Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-01-15
THE MATES STORY.
now cHIfi1sE rInArEs WE'RE REpuLstp.

now chlf.GsE PIRATES WERE REPuLskp.
"a 1876, owing to the wreck Of Bos.
ton brig in the China Sen, l was left in
Hong Kong in pretty bad shape. Afiel
mad carried a flag of distress, as YOU
might say, for two weeks, an English.
man offered to let me work my passage
to Liverpool, but as l was abort to ac.
cept It'll ran across q countryman whe
mad berth Tor me. One of the largest
treding houses in Canton at that tins
was composed of three Americans, and
they owned two small steamers and three
or four sail craft These vessels were
employed in collecting goods from the
various islands to the southeast, and some
OF the voyages ext nded up the Yel'hw
Sea as far as Teng chow. Just at thht
time the firm had come into rosse sion
OF new steamer, and she was about ia
make her first voyage There had been
trouble with pirat cal craft, and the
steamer had been fitted out to take care
OF herself. She carried two six pounde S.
twenty American cavalry carbincs, .
score OF revolyers, and was fixed to
throw hot water over boarders. Ber
compliment of men was fifteen, of whom
the cook. steward, and three fremen
were natives. All others were Ameri
cans and nglishmen. The supercargo
was an American, who could rattle oil
the Chinese language as well as the best
OF en-, and the Captain and some of the
others could "smatterr more or less.
Our first voyage was to be up the Vel
low Sea, and we carrie ed load of Ameri
can and English goods. The cargo we'll
deserved the name of miscellaneous. {"
There were muskets, fish spears, so
leather, tinwarc, looking glasses, cali.
Goes, buttons, stoneware, lamps. fish
nets, groceries, axes. and almost every
thing else you can think of, and the
supercargo also carried money to pur-
chase what we could not traffic for. We
were to pick up in exchange whatever
foreign markets called for in Canton,
which included teas, rice, several species
of nuts, dyestuffs, roots, barks, skins,
etc.
] was in luck to secure the place of
mate, for Captain Tabor was a splendid
fellow and the crew was one which could
be depended on. We had three or four
men who understood the handling of tho
six-pounders, which had been sent over
from the United States, and with the
supply Of small arms at hand we felt our
selves a match for anything except a
regular gunboat We got away in good
shape, ran up between the coast and the
Island of Formosa, aud then steered to
the northeast to fetch the Loo Kioo
Islands which are seven or eight in num-
Der, and deal in ginseng, sarsaparilla and
other medical roots. We stopped day
at Ke-Lung, which is at the northern end
of Formosa, and almost opposite Foo
chow, on the mainland, and while here il
was noticed that the native members of
of our ere were very thick with a lot OF
suspicious characters who were hanging
about us the greater part Of the day. The
supercargo overheard them discussing
our voyage and making many inquiries,
and when he spoke of the matter to tho
steward that pig-tailed gentleman ex-
planned that all our natives were related
to the strangers who had been hanging
about, and of course the latter took an
interest in them.
/ didn know Chinese character as will
as some of the others, and was therefore
somewhat surprised to hear the Captain
and supercargo discussing the impudence
of the natives aboard before we had left
Ke-Lung by fifty miles. The fremen
had given the engineer trouble, and the
steward had certain sort of impudence
in his obedience to Ommands. | did
not know until now that q gang of
twenty or more of the fellows at ke-Lung
had attempted to induce the Captain to
give them passage to the island OF
Tseeusan, which we meant to visit. They
had offered big passage money and were
willing to put up with any accommoda-
tions. buthe mistrusted them and firmly
declined to have one of them aboard.
The steward and firemen were soundly
berated by the Captain and threatened
with irons i. any more trouble occurred.
and there the matter was dropped. At
the close OF the second day we dropped
anchor OIL a small island to the south
west Of Tseeusan called hung wah.
There fTas no harbor, but the uepth of
the water enabled us to get within
cables length of the beach in a compar-
etiycly sheltered spot.
Captain Tabor had traded at this ISL
and a year before, aud he knew that the
natives were all right as long as they
were kept in awe by superior force.
There was a trader on the sland WHO
had large stock Of roots, and after
palaver lasting two days and nights the
mpercargo iiually made bargain with
b m. II was observed by the Cap ain
that some change lad come over The na-
tiyes, for on his previous trip they had
been eager to close q bargain at any
figure named. The natives in our
crew had be n permitted to 60 Ashore,
and q dozen or so Of the leading
men Of the island had come aboard
and inspected US. It was night OF the
second day before a trade was agreed
upon. On the following day we were to